3 Generations and the DDP

[WDWAurora]

Well, let's see how this goes! We are just back from a 1/25-1/31/14 stay at POP Century. We had the regular dining plan with one snack, one counter service, and one table service meal per day. Now, for some introductions:

Me-25 (ok, I've been 25 for a few years), wife, mommy of two, and school psychologist. Spring stresses me out at work, so I thought going to disney before things got rough seemed like a good idea. I'm a veteran-been coming since age 3 and unsure what my actual trip count is. As an adult, I'm not getting down as often due to having children, working, being a grown-up. I'm working on it. I don't care for seafood, but I'll try a lot of things.

DH-32, husband, father, not all that into disney. His first trip was at age 21, then he went back on our honeymoon and a couple other times. He shows up, but isn't really enthused...until he's having fun. He's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, not into trying new stuff, really.

DS1-3. He's an energetic little guy who is just like his mommy...as a teenager anyway. Stubborn and fiercely independent, but definitely starting to be a disney lover! He eats like most young children do-lots of macaroni and cheese, etc.

DS2-1. He's a beautiful little boy who is also fiercely independent. He wants to try anything and everything, both experiences and foods. He can be a little timid at times, but snuggles with mommy or daddy seem to fix most of his cares.

DDad-My dad, age undisclosed. I'm an only child, and my mom passed away almost 3 years ago, so my dad tends to tag along with lots of things since the boys and I are the bulk of his family. (He has his mother and mother-in-law, but we're easier to get along with!) He's a meat and all vegetables kind of guy. Not overly picky, but not into fancy foods at all.

Although you will see that our plans change, here was our ADR schedule:

Saturday 1/25: O'hana dinner
Sunday 1/26: Mama Melrose dinner
Monday 1/27: Crystal Palace dinner
Tuesday 1/28: Tusker house lunch
Wednesday 1/29: Biergarten dinner
Thursday 1/30: Be Our Guest dinner

We'll have a few snacks and counter service meals mixed in. Here we go!

 

[guinness408]

Sounds fun! I'm joining and looking forward to hearing about your trip!

 

[WDWAurora]

We had an early flight, so we arrived at POP around 11am. We decided to drop our stuff off with the luggage guys and hop a bus to DTD for one of our faves-Wolfgang Puck Express. Now, the boys were a little tired and we only had a single stroller at this point, so getting there was a little stressful, but we made it. After waiting a few minutes, I order the chicken cavatappi Alfredo, DH ordered a pepperoni pizza, and DS1 ordered a cheese pizza. DS2 eats off everybody's plate! DDad hadn't arrived yet. For desserts, we had creme brûlée, a brownie, and a cookie.

My pasta was good, but not great. I had a similar entree on a previous trip that was better, but definitely still good. DH enjoyed his pizza, as did DS1. I really like WPE pizza, so I was hoping to get my own later in the week. DS2 was just playing with everything, so I'm not sure if he ate much (story of the trip for him! Sensory overload). The creme brûlée was good, but needed to be a little browner. The cookie and brownie were eaten later, so not sure how they liked them.

I'm a southern, sweet tea loving girl, so I do like that I can find it here. This time, I mixed sweet tea with the tropical tea and really enjoyed it.

We had planned to hang out at DTD until close to dinner time, then bus straight to the poly. My boys needed a break, so we headed back to POP for a few hours.

Up next: dinner at O'hana!

 

[WDWAurora]

Well, it's been a while. Between the stomach bug and snow days, life has been crazier than usual. Anyway, on to Ohana!

We met up with DDad next door and grabbed a bus to MK. The monorail was supposed to be closed, so we headed for the boats since we thought the boys would enjoy that more than the buses. On the way there, we realized the monorails were running, so we hopped on and headed to the Poly!

This was the first time, despite our many trips, that any of us had been in the Poly. We were early, so we looked around the store upstairs before checking in. EDS tried pin trading for the first time and had a great interaction with a CM who let him choose two pins off a board to keep.

We checked in a couple minutes early, then YDS and I ran laps around the upstairs (ok, really just normal toddler chasing, he wasn't wild or anything). We watched the little opening ceremony and were quickly paged for our 5pm ADR. We were taken to a table in the back. Despite them asking if we needed a high chair, we had to wait for one. That was a little frustrating since he thought for a second he was free. Ugh.

The bread came to the table with us. I think it's supposed to come with butter, but we weren't given any. We all liked the bread, including the non-pineapple eaters, so it didn't matter. The salad came quickly. DDad and I are the only real salad eaters, but YDS ended up eating a good bit. I didn't like it, but I don't like fruit in my salad or sweet dressings. I ate it, though. DDad liked it. I liked the wings and pot stickers. DH found them just ok-he's not into meat with bones. He was also afraid there might be hidden veggies in the pot stickers, and we just can't have that. The noodles weren't my thing, but all of my boys enjoyed them (my boys meaning all 4 males). The veggies were nicely seasoned. Ours needed more mini corn, as I only found about 3 pieces and YDS loved it.

The meats-I have to say, I liked them all! My least favorite was the shrimp. I don't eat a lot of seafood, and peeling shrimp seems like too much work. The pork was great, but the chicken and beef were just perfect. All of us were very happy with the meat. We had two sauces and most of us preferred the teriyaki, but the little boys preferred the sweet and sour.

We were all stuffed, but still tried dessert. I absolutely loved the bread pudding. I wanted to eat it all, but I was at capacity. EDS just ate ice cream (they brought him a separate bowl with sprinkles).

Toward the end of our meal, a male entertainer came out. He did have the kids do coconut races. EDS seemed to enjoy it. We thought it was cute. We had to chase our waiter down to check out but otherwise we thought the whole experience was pretty great. I think we will be back!

Up next: Park Day 1-Hollywood Studios...but I used to love you edition